LOS ANGELES: Hollywood is mulling over yet another reminder that - for all the on-screen sentimentality about love and family - its own relationships stand about as much chance of flourishing as a palm tree in the Californian desert.
Of course, no one was surprised by the announcement that Richard Gere, actor, and Cindy Crawford, supermodel, were separating after three years. One of the rules of thumb in Hollywood is that when anyone denies a rumour, stick with it.
So when the two stars spent an estimated GBP28,000 (HK$338,000) on an advertisement in the Times last May declaring their love (and, more unusually, their heterosexuality), they might as well have rented a billboard announcing that it was all over.
A glance at the Hollywood gossip columns reveals why wedlock is regarded as a bed of roses certain to be trampled underfoot by the forces of fame and fortune. Shannen Doherty, star of Beverly Hills 90210, and Ashley Hamilton (son of George, the actor) managed three weeks before their sacred union fell apart.
So when Emilio Estevez and Paula Abdul divorced in April, there were almost congratulations: they had notched up two years. Even Kevin Costner, that paradigm of family virtue, was leaving his wife, Cindy, a college sweetheart.
One Hollywood insider said: 'Two questions run through the minds of anyone in Hollywood when they discover a celebrity couple are getting married: what's the nuptial agreement and is it a marriage of convenience?' The last question has been thrown into sharp focus by the other, equally unsurprising revelation that the Michael Jackson/Lisa-Marie Presley union sailed on to the rocks almost immediately after its launch following a secret ceremony in May.
